The winner of the tie between Bayern Munich and PSG will face either Arsenal or Atlético Madrid in the final. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta lavished praise on the spectacular first leg in Paris, but he believes the contest only reached that level because both German and French clubs avoid the relentless pressure of English football.
"When I look at the number of minutes played and the freshness of these players, it doesn't surprise me," Arteta said. "The difference between the leagues and the way the game is played there is like night and day. We're comparing two completely different worlds here."
England's schedule does include an extra cup competition and a two-team larger top division, meaning Arsenal have played seven more matches than Bayern or PSG this season. Yet, when compared solely with Munich, the workload gap is not as vast as Arteta implies.
While five Gunners have clocked more minutes than Munich's ever-present Diaz, the numbers converge quickly after that. Take Stanisic, Bayern's tenth-most used player (2,861 minutes); he has played noticeably more than Arsenal's tenth man, Leandro Trossard (2,577). Diaz, Kane and Olise have all logged more minutes than Viktor Gyökeres, Arsenal's most-used forward.